It's not how far you go but how go you far.

Film

December 17, 2007

Holy hell, it's been a long time since I've written anything. I'm gonna have to figure out this whole typing thing all over again. The past few weeks for me have been one of those miserable ruts that make me wish I was still addicted to painkillers. It started when I got a wave of papers turned in, which always puts me out of commission for a week to ten days, and as soon as I was done with those I caught the plague that has recently engulfed Dallas. At one point four out of the six fifth grade teachers were moderately to seriously ill, which made our meetings a disgusting cacophony of coughs, sneezes, snorts, sniffs, and nose blows. Just as I had reached my sickest point, I got hit with a double whammy of neck cricks, actually one in my neck and one in my back, that kept me from turning my head in either direction and forced me to look at my shoes while walking. I've done some moping around over the past couple of days, which always helps, and I got my new kitchen appliances delivered, so things are looking up, though my dog still hates me because I haven't taken her to the park in three weeks. I have rounded up a few recommendations and observations, however, so here we go...

I read Pat Conroy's Lords of Discipline for the second time, and it maintained it's status as one of my top three books of all time. What an amazing writer. The blurb on the back of my edition says something to the effect of "reading Conroy's writing is like watching Michealangelo paint..." It sounds typically hyperbolic for a back cover blurb, but I couldn't agree more.

For awhile now, I've been curious to see The Devil's Rejects. I'm not sure why, as I'm not into horror movies or blood and gore, but anyways, I finally watched it...and it was damn good. Though I feel a bit uneasy about recommending it, since I can easily see someone taking my recommendation then wanting to beat me senseless afterwards. It is probably the most gory and disturbing movie I've ever seen.

With the Cowboys' loss last night in game 14, I feel I should warn fans that we seem to have entered Dallas' tradition final three games collapse. See the third paragraph of this entry from May for details. With games 15 and 16 on the road, will this year be any different?

I have watched this video, in which someone has overdubbed an X-Men cartoon to make all of the characters talk like pimps, at least fifteen times over the past week or so and it hasn't gotten old yet.

I recently picked up Gonzo, the new oral history of the life of Hunter S. Thompson, and though it started strongly, ultimately it has solidified my feelings about the oral history method of biography. Unless I am a crazy fan of the book's subject (such as with Whores: An Oral biography of Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction) I will get bored within 100 pages and the book will become a coaster.

And a couple of quick notes on recent TV developments. First, I was extremely disappointed that VJ won the grand prize in America' Most Smartest Model. He was clearly the best contestant, but he was such a douchebag that I was really hoping for the Russian to pull the upset. Oh well, I hope they have a second season. And second, I am dying to recognize someone on To Catch a Predator. I'm convinced it's going to happen, and it'll be freakin' awesome. Chris Hanson, come to Dallas!

October 23, 2007

I just finished watching a documentary that I know I'll be thinking about for a long time to come. The film is called Jesus Camp, and it's about the fundamentalist, evangelical christian movement in America, specifically regarding the indoctrination of children into the faith. In the immediate aftermath of having watched the film, I find myself having so many conflicting thoughts and emotions that I have no hope of organizing them in a coherent and rational way in a brief post, plus I don't want to spoil the movie for those who would be interested in seeing it, but I was alternately horrified, alarmed, enfuriated, and worried, which I suppose are all close emotional relatives of one another. In spite of this, though, I found the propaganda that is used to indoctrinate the children to be very impressive in the way it is implemented. The children's minister the film focuses on is an expert on how to use fear and insecurity to exploit the vulnerability of the kids. It's fascinating to watch strictly from a psychological perspective. Highly recommended for people of all faiths.